The Botanic Annual. 369 



charges the colour. I once had a whole collection of lepi- 

 dopterous insects utterly spoiled from having been deposited 

 in cedar drawers ; and I have understood, also, that the insects 

 in the British Museum, collected, I believe, chiefly by Dr. 

 Leach, have been greatly injured from the same cause. Pos- 

 sibly, however, cedar wood, after it has been thoroughly well 

 seasoned, may be less liable to produce these injurious effects. 

 Apologising to Professor Rennie for the freedom of the 

 above hasty remarks (which, however, have been dictated 

 solely by a love of truth), and to yourself and your readers for 

 the length to which they have extended, 



I remain, yours, &c. 

 Alledey Rectory, February 22. 1832. W. T. Bree. 



I 



Art. III. The Botanic Annual ; or. Familiar Illustrations of the 

 Structure^ Habits^ Economy, Geography, Classification, and Prin- 

 cipal Uses of Plants, ivith Notices of the Way in tvhich they are 

 affected by Climate and Seasons, and a short Sketch of Confferce. 

 By Robert Mudie, Author of " The British Naturalist," &c. 



' 8vo, 446 pages. London, Cochrane and Co., 1832. 



Mr. Mudie, the author, as it now appears, of 77?^ British 

 Naturalist, has tried his hand at an " Annual." We regret 

 this circumstance, not only because we cordially dislike all 

 Annuals, ay, the whole generation, esteeming them as but 

 petty flimsy wares, mere book-making jobs of a very tawdry 

 description ; but also because we think Mr. Mudie a naturalist 

 of sufficient research and ability to have produced a work of a 

 more solid cast, and (as we say) of a larger calibre. Annuals, 

 it strikes us, are, among books, very much what dandies are 

 among men. Their gay and glittering exterior, with all the 

 meretricious trickery of embossed or figured binding, super- 

 fine wove paper, and gilt edges, we never can help suspecting 

 may be intended to serve by way of compensation for the 

 absence of more sterling worth within. And when the shine 

 (which is as evanescent as the morning dew, or the bloom 

 upon a ripe plum) is once gone out of these exquisites, their 

 chief attraction is at an end, and they look no better than 

 worn-out finery, or shabby genteel. 



On receiving our copy of the Botanic Annual, we had, 

 at first, serious thoughts of enshrining it within a glass case, 

 and appropriating it solely and exclusively to the use of the 

 very fairest of the fair sex. But on more mature deliberation, 

 after having taken the precaution to overlay our table with a 



Vol. v. — No. 26. b b 



